Friday, December 18, 2009

Been listening to a lot of John Lennon this week - next year will be the 30th anniversary of his death. Been thinking about how he was only 40 years old and how I can still remember fairly clearly sitting in front of the 6 o'clock news and it being talked about and at the same time my eldest brother, Joey, comes in the front door - BAWLING. So, lately I have been reading the Neil Gaiman "Sandman" graphic novels and I found an interesting connection between the last 2 novels and some Lennon lyrics from his song "God" off of his 1970 solo album "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band":

"I was the Dreamweaver but now I'm reborn/I was the walrus but now I'm John/and so dear friends you'll just have to carry on/the dream is over".

Without spoiling the novels for anyone who hasn't read them - these lyrics represent so many themes that have been swirling around and inside my head lately (renewal, rebirth, resurrection, reinvention), and how dreams are really the TANGIBLE objects that begin and end everything.

The first 45 I remember listening to when I was 4 years old (a couple years before Lennon was shot) after I quickly tired of Mother Goose's latest hit record was "I Am The Walrus". And I remember playing it over and over again thinking "Wow. Wow. Wow. This is the most amazing thing to listen to" and I remember imagery from a "music video" that I would see in my head whenever I played it on my little portable record player. It is still one of my favorite Beatles songs (and the b-side "Hello, Goodbye" is pretty fantastic as well).

Friday, December 11, 2009

This week we are graced with correspondence from our very own bassist and expert on the occult, Jason. He gives us the perspective of one's first experience on the radio...

I was on the radio for the first time ever on November 20th, 2009. I have always been told that I had a face for radio, so it was only right and natural. When we arrived at Rollins, I suddenly felt very poor, but then I felt better because Christian was in his work scrubs, so everyone thought he was a doctor.

We played four songs live and acoustic on WPRK: Me, Melting, Centauri, Almanac, and Road Song. It was one of our tightest performances together yet. Unfortunately, it wasn’t recorded because their studio had blown up two days before, making me look like a liar to anyone who couldn’t listen live and wanted to hear it later…Pictured above: LIAR.

That night, we played a fantastic show at the Copper Rocket. It was a great turnout, however I was a little terrified of the biker gang that Kamillie Ahne brought. In a bizarre coincidence, the guy running sound for us that night was none other than Carlos, formerly of the band Microfun, who taught me how to play bass and taught Kyle how to play barre chords back in 2000. I was even playing the bass I used in my lessons with him! Not because it was an homage, but because I’m poor and can’t afford a new bass."See Michael? My guitar has the HORIZONS logo on it!"Enough, Kyle, we get it...

We have so many shows coming up in 2010 that I can’t even think of all of them off the top of my head. I will be making my first trip to Tampa on Jan 2nd for our show at the New World Brewery. I look forward to meeting all of the friendly Tampons, or Tamponians, or whatever the hell you call them. It is a city that redeemed itself during the 2008 election.People in Tampa waiting to meet Jason.

On an unrelated note, I’m out of commission for a few days due to a throat infection and high fever. I spent most of the morning lying in bed and playing Disney’s Adventures in the Magic Kingdom for NES. It is still just as hard as it was when I was 7. I can’t beat Pirates of the Caribbean! The controls are awful!

-Jason

That's all for now from the HH universe. A video is on the horizon so check back to see all of Jason's adventures from WPRK in horrifying sight and sound. Like Jason said, lots of shows coming up where we'll be debuting new songs like "You Call This Limbo" & "Lone Home". Do not miss your chance to reach for new horizons with Hadley's Hope.